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International cooperation of the Latvian Academy of Sciences

The Latvian Academy of Sciences (LAS) is involved in bi- and multilateral cooperation with the Academies of sciences and science organizations in other countries. At the beginning of 2008 there were 29 bilateral co- operation agreements with partners in Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Germany, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, France, Estonia, Israel, Italy, Canada, Russia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Finland, Hungary, Sweden, Taiwan and Ukraine. These agreements foresee mutual exchange in scientists between countries and annual quotas for the equi- valent exchange. Scientists from all research institutions and universities can participate in this exchange.

The Latvian Academy of Sciences continually represents the Latvian science community in non-governmental Global and European scien- tific organizations: International Council for Science (ICSU), International Union of Academies of Humanities and Social sciences (UAI), European Federation of National Academies of Sciences and Humanities (ALLEA). Due to Latviaās accession to EU, the Academy also joined the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC), established by the acade- mies of EU member states. The Latvian Academy of Sciences is a member of the Global networks: Inter-Academy Panel on International Issues (IAP) and Inter-Academy Medical Panel on Global Health Issues (IAMP).

The Latvian Academy of Sciences members have been entrusted by the government to represent Latvia in the NATO Science Committee and the EU Scientific and Technical Research Committee (CREST), which is the main advisory body to the Council of Ministers and the European Commission regarding research and technology.

LAS has signed an agreement on scientific cooperation with UNESCO and apart from this continually cooperates with the Latvian National Commission (LNC) for UNESCO. LAS vice-president leads the Science Program Council of UNESCO LNC. In 2005, LAS together with UNESCO LANC and LāOreal Baltic jointly launched the fellowships For Women in Science, which are granted annually.

The initial regional cooperation of the three Baltic (Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian) academies of sciences, started in the beginning of 1990ās, has been expanded to regular joint meetings of Baltic and Nordic academies of sciences. The highlights of regional cooperation are the regular Baltic Conferences on Intellectual Cooperation, which are organized on a rota- tional basis (biannually).